


A Sunny Day on Kamino

by sharkcar



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 501st Legion - Freeform, 79's, Anthropology, Bounty Hunters, Bullying, Chiefdom (Service), Civil Rights, Clone Academy, Clone Culture (Star Wars), Clone Nightmares, Clone Wars, Clone Wine, Clones, Coruscant, Drinking, Family, Father Figures, Growing Up, Humanity, Jaig Eyes, Jedi Haircuts, Jerba Ribs, Kamino, Mandalore, Mercenaries, Military, Non-Conformity, Order 66, People with Disabilities, Politics (Star Wars), Protective Siblings, Republic Issue Soap, Republic Nutrition Rations, Siblings, Slavery, Soldiers, The Beard, Tipoca City, War, clone death, insignia, mandalorian culture, warrior culture, warriors - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 16:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6665905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkcar/pseuds/sharkcar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Rex didn't usually like to take leave time, it was a luxury he could live without. But the recent attack on his home world of Kamino leaves him needing a rest from the war. Visiting Coruscant again causes him to think about his earlier visits to the capital, including his first days serving in the 501st. When he is unexpectedly given the chance to speak on behalf of his brothers to those who decide their fates, he starts to think about the things that are really worth fighting for.</p><p>My first attempt to write about clone culture and to give Rex some motivations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Sunny Day on Kamino

I was sitting alone on the end of the bar at 79’s. I didn’t object to company most of the time, I was constantly surrounded by brothers and living in close quarters. But one of the disadvantages of command is that I had more burdens than most. I guess I needed a lot of time alone just to think, for a clone. I was on Coruscant for some leave time after the invasion of Kamino. My Jedi general had put me in for it after the engagement. He thought that I needed some rest. I was glad that we had repelled the attack, but too many of my brothers had been killed. The aftermath had taken its toll as well. All of the damage had made some areas unsafe, so we had to haul away a lot of debris. That included the human debris.  
  
“Can I get you anything else, Rex?” the droid bartender came over to take my empty glass.  
  
“Thanks, I’ll have another one,” I didn’t even look up.  
  
I thought once again about Kamino and I clenched a fist. The Separatists were monsters, I told myself. It was my duty in life to stop them. My brothers and I were created for one purpose, to fight a war for the Republic. We had never been permitted to ask if we were fighting for right or wrong. But I liked to think that I was too smart for blind obedience. I believed in the Republic. We were protecting a superior system where people had freedom. The Separatists offered only tyranny. I had seen what the Separatists could do and they were brutal and uncaring. They would use people and worlds and then shrug them off once their usefulness was at an end. I knew people in the Republic. They tried to do what was right, they allowed differing voices to have a say, they cared about each other. I knew that this war was going to be a decisive moment where the galaxy chose one way of life or another. I also knew that we were on the right side of history. If that wasn’t worth fighting for, what was?  
  
My new ARC troopers from the 501st, Echo and Fives, walked in and waved to me. I waved back but they went to their own table. Hard to unwind with the boss there, I supposed. Suddenly, my com chirped. I raised it so that I could hear, “Yes?”  
  
“Rex, this is General Skywalker. What are you doing right now?” the general’s voice came over the com.  
  
“Have we received orders, sir?” I asked as the bartender left me a new drink.  
  
“No. This is more of a social call.” That was confusing. As far as I knew, the Jedi didn’t have social lives. They were as bound by their organization and mission as we clones were.  
  
“Sir?” I gripped my glass.  
  
“Listen, I’m sending over the address now. Can you drop by?” he asked. I supposed he wasn’t trying to be cryptic. The general was someone I trusted.  
  
“I’m over at 79’s, I’ll be there in a few,” I downed my glass and put some credits on the bar. I waved to the ARC troopers as I walked out, helmet under my arm. They looked relieved to see me go. I checked the address and hailed an air taxi. The building was in a fancy part of town. I wondered what the general was doing out there.  
  
Although we spent a lot of time together in our work, outside the field our lives didn’t intersect often. General Skywalker spent his time with the Jedi doing whatever they do. Meditate or something. They’re kind of a mysterious lot. I had the duties of my command. I had never taken leave time before for more than a few hours. My men joked that I didn’t need leave because my only hobbies were shooting things and giving orders. The truth was, I didn’t need leave time because I enjoyed my work. Some men are not suited to the military life, they don’t like the discipline for example, but for me it gave me a purpose, a family, an identity. My general was respectful and treated me like a valuable asset. I was able to be proud every day of who I was. Besides, with all the restrictions on clone behavior, I thought, what else was I going to do?  
  
\--  
  
What people don’t realize about us clones is that we are all different. Our genes are the same, but experience is the thing that all beings have that cannot be replicated. For a clone, experience is everything that makes us ourselves, it is our individuality, it is essentially who we are. According to my Kaminoan creators, clones are superior to droids because they can make decisions. Experience is what counts, because it is what causes us to make the decisions we do.  
  
It was the Kaminoans and nursery droids that treated us like we were all the same. We had to know each other by number, they wanted conformity. But even in the nursery, in our eyes, we were all different from each other. We clones were our own miniature society. We had our own jokes, common experiences growing up, and common problems. We all aged rapidly, as we had been engineered to do. After nursery we were all one standard year old, but we were physically like human three year olds. We were made to learn rapidly, so our minds were something like a human five year old’s. It sounds strange, but it was normal for us.  
  
When I was born, there had been an accident in the incubation chambers physically damaging some of the clones that were near my chamber. When we were removed from our jars, the entire shelf was taken to the nurseries together for our first year. In the nurseries, these so-called “bad batchers”, Wags, Blink, and Myte, had been some of my first playmates. I have to say, it never occurred to me that there was anything wrong with them. In fact, I sometimes envied them because they looked different from everyone else.  
  
After our first year, most of us were sent on to combat conditioning and the bad batchers were sent to help out in the galleys. I knew that was how things were, but it was sad to me. They were my brothers too, I thought, why should we all be separated now? I was sure they could have been useful in the fight.  
  
During my second year I was the size of a human five-year-old, but with the intelligence of a child twice that age. At that time, I witnessed some of the other clones bullying the bad batchers in the galley. I was bringing my tray back to say hello to my brothers, when I saw them. The boys, Havoc, Anvil, and Moose, had Blink and Myte surrounded and were calling my brothers “useless” and shoving them and laughing. The Kaminoans did not allow bad batchers to touch regular clones. I couldn’t believe what cowards those bullies were, pushing around brothers that they knew couldn’t fight back. I just knew I couldn’t let bullies win.  
  
Using my tray as a weapon, I pounded Moose over the head and Havoc in the face before Anvil slugged me and threw me through the kitchen door. By that time though, some of my squad mates had seen what was happening and had rushed to defend me and the bad batchers. We all spent the night in cells as punishment for fighting. But the next day, my squad and I wore our bruises and cuts like medals.  
  
After that, my squad mates treated me like a leader. They trusted me to decide what was right because they had seen me take a stand that they could be proud of. My cadet squad continued to stay friendly with our brothers in kitchen detail and we always made sure to thank them for their contribution. The bullies became so unpopular afterwards that they came to me to try to be friends. I told them to go and apologize to my brothers in the galley. They did, and after that they looked out for the bad batchers, too. I saw the impact that my choice to take a stand had had on the others and was proud that all my brothers had done what was right in the end.  
  
Once my batch reached our third year and actual combat training, my classmates still looked to me for guidance. I looked out for my classmates. I would keep them in line but protected them from getting into trouble. I never asked them to do something I wouldn’t do myself. I never did things that might get us into trouble with the Kaminoans, but I never ratted on a brother either. I worked hard, learning everything I could about weapons systems, combat, marksmanship, and they followed my lead. I helped my brothers learn by tutoring them in our subjects. Whenever I could, I read up on regulations. By the end of my third year, my squad was branded elite. I tested near perfect on my exams and was selected for leadership training. It was the proudest moment of my young life.  
  
That night, my squad mates and some other friends and I had snuck over to the galley. I had never disobeyed the rules before, but I had to admit, it was a rush. We had a secret party in the kitchen with the bad batchers, drinking some kind of weak wine that they had figured out how to make from powdered fruit juice. I remember laughing a lot. We had all made it back to our barracks that night, but when I arrived at my first day of leadership training, I threw up on one of our trainer’s boots. The trainers all laughed at me, clapped me on the back and called me a lightweight. They told me to stick to milk, whatever that was.  
  
Our trainers were mercenaries or belonged to various Mandalorian warrior houses. Our clone template was Mandalorian. The trainers imparted to us a respect for Mandalore’s history and culture. We were regaled with stories of great battles and heroes, and looked upon their past with awe. They were a society based on war, like our little clone society was. Our heritage made us proud.  
  
In leadership training, despite the bumpy start, I thrived. I was always competing hard to be the best. As a soldier, I had obeyed orders to the letter, but with the taught impatience of a massiff on a chain. As soon as I was given the word, I’d snap viciously into action. We had it drilled into us that “good soldiers follow orders”, but in command I realized that those who give the orders were human. Therefore, like people, orders could be flawed. I secretly wondered if some orders should not be followed. Giving the orders, I knew I would be responsible for always doing what was best for the mission and my men. I became extremely serious. My reputation among my squad mates was that I was absolutely no fun.  
  
\--  
  
As I looked out the window of the cab, I took in the high rises of Coruscant. I could see in some of the windows where people were eating, laughing, talking, or just sitting together. It was always strange to leave the battlefront. I had actually only been to the capital three times before.  
  
The time before this had been a brief stay, after we’d escorted Duchess Satine of Mandalore to Coruscant to speak to the senate. We didn’t stay long. I remember that trip mostly because it was the first time I had ever been to Mandalore. I had expected a place I’d heard so much about to seem more familiar. But the New Mandalorians who had control of the planet were officially pacifists. They looked like a sissy bunch to me. The Mandalorian bounty hunters, mercenaries, and fighters who trained us were battle hardened men, though most of them were from clans that had been exiled from the home world. I found out from General Kenobi that Mandalore had been severely damaged in centuries of war and was only starting to recover. It was bleak and desolate, with life only existing under domes. That had been an educational trip.  
  
Before that, once for that Zillo beast fiasco. The whole city was under emergency laws for a while. What a mess. Before that, I had only been to Coruscant once, back when I was selected for my post.  
  
\--  
  
I was not part of the initial clone order. My batch had just missed the cutoff when General Yoda came to take possession of the army. Therefore, I didn’t fight in the First Battle of Geonosis like some did. The initial two-hundred thousand clones had shipped out soon after Geonosis, making up five-hundred legions of four hundred clones each. My legion was the first one formed after the war began, the 501st.  
  
I got the news about my command three and a half months after Geonosis. I was just coming out of an optional seminar on tactical theory when I met General Shaak-Ti. She had arrived right after the start of the war to oversee the training of new soldiers on Kamino. Besides us clones, the Kaminoans, and our Mandalorian trainers, she was one of the first humanoids I’d met. We all thought that she was very beautiful, even though we didn’t have much to compare her to. She had been training us in Jedi combat, leading us through simulations with combined blaster fire and light sabers. When we saw her demonstrations, none of us quite knew what to say. We had never seen warriors like the Jedi, their abilities were superhuman. Shaak-Ti had become something of an inspirational mascot for us. Some of the boys were already crafting good luck charms with her picture drawn on them to wear into battle.  
  
“Captain Rex?” she said in that accented voice of hers. I was flattered that she knew my name.  
  
“Yes, General?” I stood at attention and saluted.  
  
“At ease, Captain,” she nodded slightly. I lowered my hand but continued to stand up straight. “I have some news for you. More legions are needed as the war effort expands. We Jedi have had our first promotion of the war. A padawan has been elevated to the level of knight and will be serving as a general. I sent him several personnel files and he has requested you, Rex, to form and lead the 501st. I told him that you have not yet received the rank of Commander, but he insists that he has been allowed purview to set up his legion to suit his purposes. I believe that the chancellor intends the 501st to be an elite special mission force.”  
  
“Ma’am. I will do my best,” it was like a dream for me.  
  
“I will send you the files and you can assemble your legion. You are due on Coruscant to meet with the general in two standard weeks,” she turned away slowly.  
  
“Ma’am?” I asked. She turned. “What’s the name of my new general?”  
  
“Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.”  
  
\--  
  
Two weeks later, I stepped off of the Kaminoan delivery ship. Clone legions were brought first to the central command base on Coruscant to receive their orders. As I descended the ramp with my helmet under my arm, I squinted and I had to hold up a hand to shield my eyes. Kamino had one type of weather, rain. Coruscant had clouds, but a visible sun too. And it had high buildings and speeders of every sort shining in the sunlight. I was overwhelmed.  
  
The soldiers marched off beside me and began to unload the cargo we had escorted from Kamino, mostly medical supplies for the base. A Jedi was standing at the end of the ramp to meet me. He was tall, wearing dark colors. I liked the boots, the soles were heavily reinforced and they looked strong enough to kick in a blast door. His hair was shaggy, like he was overdue for a haircut, and dark blonde. Like many of the Jedi generals, he wore minimal armor, just for the chest and shoulders, with the emblem of his order on the left shoulder guard. He was standing cross armed and smirking next to a blue and white R2 unit.  
  
I walked up to him and stood at attention, “General Skywalker, CT 7567, Captain Rex, reporting for duty.”  
  
He saluted me, “Rex. Good to meet you.”  
  
I continued to stand at attention, but he had relaxed, “I am ready to brief you on the legion. I recruited the men and structured the command exactly as you requested…”  
  
“Have you eaten?” he asked.  
  
I was a bit shocked by his casual manner, “Sir?”  
  
“I’m sorry, I’ve been at saber practice all morning and I’m starving. Tell me about it over lunch,” he waved me to come with him and the droid spun around to follow.  
  
I walked with him but was uncomfortable just marching off the base without telling anyone where I was going. I turned back to my ARC trooper, “Havoc, I am going to meet with the general. Make sure everyone gets settled in the barracks and gets in a round of target practice before evening mess. If the troop score average isn’t improved, nobody gets their leave time tonight.”  
  
“Yes, Captain,” he saluted.  
  
“Pretty serious,” General Skywalker looked a bit surprised.  
  
“Being prepared is no joke, it could mean the difference between life and death,” I was still wound pretty tight.  
  
“I couldn’t agree more,” the general, clasping his hands behind his back.  
  
We walked to a speeder. The general leapt into the driver’s seat and the droid jumped in the back using his rocket boosters. I carefully climbed in and started looking all over the city as he launched into the heavy Coruscant traffic.  
  
“What do you like to eat?” he asked me as he swung the speeder up to a higher level.  
  
“Sir?” I was confused. No one had ever asked me that before. On Kamino, we were fed nutrition rations. I had never eaten for pleasure. I honestly didn’t know what I liked.  
  
I could tell from the general’s face that he understood and was slightly embarrassed, “Uh, I know this great place,” he wove in and out of lanes of traffic, up and down levels so quickly that everything we passed was a blur. I started to get a little nauseous. We barreled through, never slowing, until I could see the massive Jedi temple, a trapezoid with its five spires. The general put down the speeder nearby, outside what looked like no more than a tiny room open to the street side and some tables outside. “It’s just a little hole in the wall, nothing fancy, but the food is good.”  
  
As soon as we were out of the speeder a human female behind the counter looked up and smiled. She was really cute. “What’ll it be today, Anakin, eat in or takeaway?”  
  
“We’ll sit. Lina, this is Rex, newly arrived from Kamino,” the general thumped me on the back.  
  
“Wow, a real clone! I was just telling you yesterday how I thought our fighting boys were handsome,” she smiled, “What can I get you, soldier?” she leaned on the counter. I blushed a little, I didn’t know what to say. I looked at the general for some help.  
  
“Get Rex one of the shaved meat sandwiches with everything, I’ll have a sandwich too, and half a rack of jerba ribs. I also want an order of fried greens and we need two of those drinks,” he pointed at some bottles and handed her the credits.  
  
“I think you’re the only human in Coruscant who eats jerba ribs,” Lina put some bony looking meat on the grill.  
  
We took our drinks and went outside into the sun, I squinted again. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it.  
  
“I missed breakfast this morning. I was working on my fighter last night until late. I think I’ve just about got it built the way we want it, right buddy?” he patted the droid’s dome.  
  
“Nice droid,” I said. The thing had recently been cleaned and it was sparkling. Obviously it was a prized possession, “I hear that the Artoo series are the best mechs ever made, versatile and sturdy. Is he yours?”  
  
“He was a gift from a friend of mine,” he looked down at the droid, “I never actually owned a droid before. Fixed a lot of them, but always had to program them for other people. Most Jedi don’t keep possessions. But Artoo-detoo is the best droid there is, I couldn’t say no.” The droid chirped and beeped. “He says he looks forward to working with you, Captain,” General Skywalker translated.  
  
Lina brought out the food. “Lina, this is Rex’s first meal in Coruscant,” I wasn’t sure what any of the plants or animals we were about to eat even looked like alive, but the food looked better than rations. I took a bite of the sandwich. It was better than rations by far.  
  
“What do you think?” Lina asked me.  
  
“I actually didn’t know that food could have flavor,” I admitted. She laughed but I wasn’t joking.  
  
Lina patted my shoulder, “Glad you like it.” I was sorry when she went back inside.  
  
“Don’t get used to it, we’ll all be on nutrition rations again soon enough,” he took another bite, “ I hear the Republic nutrition rations and the Republic issue soap are made out of the same ground up battle droids,” He said with a smirk in between chomps.  
  
I had to chuckle. The low-grade food and supplies featured prominently in clone humor. He had obviously been around clones before. It surprised me because the war had only just started. He couldn’t have been much more than twenty standard human years. I was only ten, but I looked thirty. “Have you already fought in the war?” I asked.  
  
“Yeah, we, my master and I, were on Geonosis. That’s where I got this,” still holding his sandwich with the left, he held up his right arm that bore a heavy duty prosthesis covering. Then we were in the Muunilist System for a while. Before Geonosis, we always saw a lot of action, most recently on Ansion. For some reason, everywhere we go people are trying to kill us.”  
  
“I missed Geonosis. Just a little too young,” he had already seen major engagements and I hadn’t even been in battle yet. His war experience certainly earned some respect from me. I was glad that he seemed poised to see a lot of action. I was tired of being a shiny and was itching to get into the fight.  
  
“I’m glad that you were available. Your personnel file was impressive. You have won nearly every award that can be given in the clone academy. But it was the jaig eyes you were awarded by your Mandalorian trainers that caught my attention.” I had been running reconnaissance maneuvers with my leadership training squad in my seventh year. We were flying vehicles out over the water, when mine crashed. Only three of us survived and my two brothers were injured. I had swum back the twenty kilometers towing the two of them behind me by my belt. The Kaminoans were not happy, since they were only concerned about the loss of so many “units”, which would cost them. But my trainers had taken my cadet helmet and painted the eyes of a jaig, a Mandalorian shriek hawk, on the forehead. In their culture, the eyes were awarded for extreme valor. “Shaak-Ti said you weren’t a commander yet, but I told her that you weren’t just my first choice for my legion, you were the only clone I wanted as my first in command.”  
  
“Thank you, sir,” I felt humbled by the praise.  
  
After the sandwich, I sampled some of the ribs. They were pretty tough, but I decided that I liked food that had some texture. We finished our meal and I gave him a rundown of the organization of the legion and the personnel. He asked useful questions and proposed good solutions. I had initially thought that he was too casual, but from talking to him, I was getting the sense that he was as serious about command as I was. I relaxed a little when I realized that I could trust him.  
  
The 501st was to be dispatched to the most dangerous hotspots of the Outer Rim battlefronts. Since there would be no clone commander, I answered directly to the general and the running of the legion was my responsibility. I would also lead Torrent Company, a strike team within the 501st that would assist him on more covert operations. The other companies would be organized with a flexible structure that could serve a variety of functions. I had been allowed to co-opt the best second and third batch clones on Kamino. I chose men not just for their scores but for their characters. I told the general about some of the clones he’d have contact with, but he asked for a list of all of them so that he could get started learning their names.  
  
Lina returned, bringing us some cups of some kind of hot beverage, “On the house, boys.”  
  
When she went back in, the general smirked again. He always seemed to be amused by some kind of private joke, “I think she likes you. You should see if she wants to go out some time.”  
  
“Sir, we are not permitted to fraternize,” I sipped my cup.  
  
“I won’t tell,” he drank his in one gulp.  
  
I checked the time on a nearby clock screen. “General, would it be alright if we continued this later. I have to get back to the base,” I stood and picked up my helmet.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“Target practice, I can’t miss it. I have some of the best scores, so the men are depending on me to help raise our average. We really want that leave time,” I admitted. I abided by the same rules as the rest of my men.  
  
He raised his eyebrows, “You know, I could probably use some blaster training myself. Mind if I join you?” He flew me back to the base in record time.  
  
I called an inspection so that I could introduce the general to the men, “Listen up, this is Jedi general Anakin Skywalker, our new commanding officer. I selected you because I believe that you are the most talented, loyal, and dedicated brothers I could want. I know that you won’t disappoint me,” I nodded to the general, who had been standing with his hands clasped behind his back.  
  
“Greetings men of the 501st,” the general started, “I’d first like to thank you all for your service to the Republic. Second, I hope that you are all ready to destroy a lot of droids. I know I am.” Applause erupted. He didn’t seem to be a man of words but of action.  
  
We went in to target practice and I was proud to say that night, we earned our leave. Nearly every brother improved his shooting score. We were excited to receive our new posting and morale was high. During practice, I spent time with the general and showed him how to operate the different types of blasters. He seemed to prefer the pistols, which I did too. I let him have a go at the targets while some of the men who had already had their turn watched him try it out. His scores weren’t perfect, everyone needs a bit of time to get used to new weaponry. He could shoot straight and he did admirably. Some of the guys with high scores were laughing a little at him, but he just smirked again. He handed me the pistols and said, “Thank you for the instruction, Captain. I’ll get better, I promise,” then he bowed. The Jedi are funny like that.  
  
“I didn’t think Jedi used blasters,” I answered.  
  
“Well, if I’m going to be commanding you clones, I should familiarize myself with your type of combat. Rex, make sure that when you schedule target practice from now on, you include me in the rotation.”  
  
“Yes sir.”  
  
“There go our chances of a raised score average,” Redeye joked.  
  
That night, most of the men went out to see the city. A lot of them were headed out to nightclubs and bars. We had heard of these kinds of places and most of the guys were eager to have some fun. I just spent my time walking around. I was fascinated by how these people lived. These were the people we were defending, I reminded myself. I wanted to know something about them. I saw an incredibly diverse range of lives, rich, poor, men, women, old, young, beings of every size, shape, and color. The war was out in the stars, but for the people on Coruscant, life went on normally. The people felt safe having their children walk on the street. They felt safe kissing on a doorstep. They felt safe riding the metro. They felt safe having a drink with a friend. They had hopes and dreams for the future. It was my responsibility to make sure they stayed safe. They might never be able to thank me, but I was able to help them. I didn’t need the credit. Knowing what I protected made me feel a connection to them.  
  
\--  
  
The next day, General Skywalker reported for morning target practice piloting a fancier speeder than the one he’d had the day before. The droid was in the passenger seat. “Nice ride,” I commented.  
  
“I borrowed it from a friend,” he said rather nonchalantly.  
  
I was surprised that he actually showed up for practice. Evidently, he meant what he said. His scores were much improved. In fact, they were near perfect. “Have you been practicing, Sir?” I asked. He shrugged. The men weren’t laughing then.  
  
Next, we went for training with light saber combat. I was going to start the simulator on the lower difficulty levels for the first couple of runs, but the general insisted that we crank it up to ten. I was proud to say, we spent the rest of the morning smashing every record for the simulation possible, accuracy, speed, kill rate. I had never been so proud of my brothers. I was even proud of the general. Shaak-Ti had been an amazing saberist, but General Skywalker was faster and his style was definitely fiercer. Every run, he broke out a new trick, did something unexpected. Moreover, he never let one of us even get hit.  
  
In the afternoon, things got even more surreal. The Supreme Chancellor arrived. We were all surprised, including General Skywalker. The motorcade drove onto the base and we called the 501st into formation for an inspection. He was not looking us over from a balcony, the way he normally did when clones were shipped out, but he walked right up to the general.  
  
“Anakin!” he took the general’s hand to greet him, “Is Senator Amidala here, I thought I saw her speeder,” he looked back towards his motorcade.  
  
“Uh, no. Haven’t seen her,” the general scratched the side of his neck and looked around.  
  
“I heard this morning that you were going to the base to train your new legion. I had to come by and wish you luck. I hear that Master Kenobi has requested that you accompany him to Christophsis.”  
  
“Thank you, Chancellor. Yes, we will be meeting with Master Kenobi and Commander Cody this afternoon to coordinate and plan strategy. May I present Captain Rex.” The chancellor looked at me only for a second. I don’t know why, but it made me feel uncomfortable.  
  
“And how are they?” the chancellor asked, looking at the men standing in formation.  
  
“I’m proud to report that the 501st is already exceeding my high expectations. Rex has done a terrific job selecting these men,” the general crossed his arms.  
  
“Let me know if there is anything I can do,” the chancellor smiled. He only came up to the general’s chin and he wore fancy velvet embroidered robes. Overall, he gave the impression that he was soft, but something told me it was an act.  
  
“Actually, there is if you don’t mind,” the general cocked an eyebrow and looked sideways at me.  
  
“Anything, my boy!” the chancellor waved his hands.  
  
“As a token of my esteem to the troops for all their hard work today, I would like to take these men to get some decent food and drink tomorrow before we ship out. Would the Republic be able to spare the funds for an excursion?” he asked. I was taken aback. The most powerful man in the galaxy and the general was talking to him with the cocky familiarity of a son to his father. Well, I assume. That was how Boba was with Jango. I didn't know any other real families.  
  
“I’m afraid the Republic cannot afford such an expense,” the chancellor put his hand on his chest, “I had better pay for it out of my personal account. Shall we say the senate banquet room around six? I’ll have it catered. Congratulations, my boy,” he turned to head towards his speeders. He talked to the general with the pride of a father. How Jango was with Boba.  
  
General Skywalker turned, “You hear that, men? The chancellor is inviting us out for a night,” the men cheered, including me. The general certainly had a flair for the dramatic, I thought.  
  
That afternoon, while the men practiced drills, I met the general outside the Jedi Temple. He brought me through security and into a briefing room. Inside sat a Jedi with long auburn hair and a beard, in the traditional brown robe, and a clone wearing battle scarred armor with personal designs painted on it in orange. The general introduced them, “Captain Rex, this is General Obi Wan Kenobi of the Jedi Order and Commander Cody of his 212th.”  
  
General Kenobi bowed his head to me, “Captain Rex, good to meet you.”  
  
“General,” I saluted.  
  
“Good to see you, brother,” Cody shook my hand and clapped me on the back. Cody had been through the same leadership training as me, but was six months older. He had shipped out right after Geonosis. We hadn’t been close friends, but knew a lot of the same people.  
  
We all sat for a discussion on Christophsis. The generals described the goals of the mission and what we were up against. We debated different strategies and came up with some initial plans. Cody and I developed protocols for our field operations. Once we had everything squared away on data pads, we began swapping stories. Cody had been with the generals since their first posting.  
  
“How did you get wounded?” I asked him. He had some pretty large scars on his face.  
  
“Our forward command center was bombed, one threw me and knocked the helmet off, the next threw the shrapnel. We shot down the bomber, though,” he said modestly, not bragging at all. Cody had become really polite, I thought.  
  
I was envious. I was still sporting my academy haircut like all the new troopers. “The scars really make you look different,” I said respectfully. He took the compliment with a little nod.  
  
General Kenobi looked at the wall clock, “Speaking of appearances, I have to get a haircut.”  
  
“Seriously, Old Man?” General Skywalker smacked his forehead. Their tone with each other had gone from deadly serious to joking in a matter of seconds. They were acting like my brothers and I did when we were off duty. I thought Jedi were supposed to be serious.  
  
“Since you seem to insist on growing out your hair, I’m not about to have a repeat of our time in Theed looking like the bloody padawan twins.”  
  
“Well, I’m not cutting it,” General Skywalker crossed his arms.  
  
“So I am,” General Kenobi crossed his.  
  
“See if you can get them to do something about that ridiculous beard,” he imitated the way General Kenobi stroked his beard, and pulled a face.  
  
“My very young padawan, you are just jealous because you can’t grow one. Don’t think I didn’t notice that you tried,” General Kenobi patted General Skywalker’s face, which did have a few blonde facial hairs, but not many.  
  
“You know I’m not a padawan anymore. Haircut! I have to see this. Come on, boys,” he waved us on, “this is going to be good.”  
  
At the barbershop, Master Kenobi sheared off most of his hair and had the beard trimmed neatly while General Skywalker abused him about his looks. Master Kenobi insulted him in kind. I stood waiting, looking around the shop at all the pictures on the walls. They were mostly ads for hair products, but all the beings looked so different.  
  
“Can anyone get a haircut here?” I asked General Skywalker, who was smirking while he watched his master. We weren’t allowed much freedom on Kamino to modify our appearances in my day. Once the war started, some of the cadets were cutting their hair or letting it grow. Some tried to dye it in the sinks with cleaning products. But that was all that was permitted.  
  
“Sure, see anything you like? Lots of the clones who come through Coruscant change their appearances. It’s all allowed in the regulations. They get tattoos, paint their armor, get new haircuts or colors,” I didn’t think most of the hairdos looked practical. I wore a helmet most of the time, but I was intrigued.  
  
“I didn’t realize that we were allowed that much freedom,” I said.  
  
“Sure. We Jedi want you clones to be yourselves. Pick whatever you like,” the general shrugged, “Just not a beard,” he said loudly in General Kenobi’s direction.  
  
“Uh, I need something…easy,” I told the droid barber as I sat in a chair.  
  
“Go shorter, it will make you look more serious,” General Kenobi was just standing from his chair and brushing off his tunic.  
  
“Just last month you said that long hair made you look wiser,” General Skywalker uncrossed his arms.  
  
“Then you started growing it out and I realized how wrong I was.”  
  
I turned to Cody, “Do they ever stop bickering?”  
  
“If they did, I’d think something was wrong,” he responded.  
  
The entire time in the chair I couldn’t get over the feeling that I was doing something bad. Even though I knew that I was permitted, I had been conditioned to obey rules for so long that I was afraid. The fear did get my adrenaline up. I chose a shorter haircut, and opted for a light blonde color. The color I got from a picture I’d seen of a jaig. I felt a little silly buying the stuff to maintain the look, but I liked how it stood out next to Cody, we looked like completely different people. When I first saw myself in the mirror, I couldn’t help but smirk, unconsciously imitating the general.  
  
At evening mess on the base, I introduced the men to Commander Cody and General Kenobi. Afterwards, we ran some rounds in the simulators for them. General Kenobi and I stood together. He offered some suggestions for me. He was really smart, he noticed the little details. Cody knew his stuff as well, we had so many common experiences that we were finishing each other’s sentences. Compared to General Skywalker, General Kenobi and Cody seemed a little stiff, but they didn’t make me feel inexperienced when they talked to me.  
  
After the simulations, we had a few hours before lights out to rest. Me and my sergeants hung around on the parade grounds on the base. The generals and a few of Cody’s men brought over some paint in our field color, blue, so that we could customize our armor. They showed us how to apply it and they even had some guys who had some experience doing the designs. I had them put my jaig eyes right on my shiny helmet. By the time the Jedi headed back to the temple, they had learned most of our names and had told us stories about some of their peacekeeping missions. We were all cracking up. I wished my leadership training squad could see me, it was the most fun I’d ever had.  
  
The next day, after a morning of practicing maneuvers with Kenobi and his men, we all attended a briefing on Christophsis. All of us were good friends by then, so the tone of the briefing was convivial. In the afternoon was more training. Then General Skywalker asked if we could wrap up early to get ready for our evening. Cody mentioned that it was against regulations for us to leave the base the night before shipping out. “Ah, but Cody, this is by order of the highest authority,” General Skywalker thumped him on the back.  
  
“By whom?” General Kenobi asked, crossing his arms.  
  
“The commander in chief,” General Skywalker said with poorly feigned nonchalance.  
  
The reception was at the Senate building, in a large hall with long tables. Every one of them was heaped with food that looked pretty fancy. When we came in, the Supreme Chancellor was there greeting the clones, accompanied by a beautiful young woman in an outfit as elaborate as his. She also had some kind of crazy headdress. General Skywalker walked over to them and I followed.  
  
“Senator Amidala,” he addressed the woman and bowed as he took her hand.  
  
She smiled widely, “General Skywalker. So good to see you again.”  
  
“May I present Captain Rex of the 501st legion,” he indicated me.  
  
She bowed her head at me, “The general told me about you. On behalf of the Republic, I thank you for your service.”  
  
I blushed a little. I hadn’t really talked to many females, “Uh, you're welcome?”  
  
“I’m glad that you could come tonight, I hoped the chancellor would bring you,” the general said to her.  
  
“Of course I did, my boy. You two have been friends since that awful business on Naboo. How could she not see you off now, before your first command? Why don’t we go and sit at the head table,” the chancellor said and walked away. He hadn’t greeted me.  
  
The general bowed and the senator put her arm on his and was led to a table in the front of the room. They made a handsome couple, I thought. I wondered if she was what they called a “girlfriend”. I honestly had to admit that I had no idea. Relationships were outside my range of experience.  
  
I sat with my brothers while we ate. The food was good, but I think I preferred the jerba ribs back at Lina’s. After dinner, a lot of the men went out in groups to try to find tattoo parlors, or barbershops. We were all back by lights out looking like new men.  
  
\--  
  
I am proud to say, we lived up to our promise. The 501st saw more combat than practically any other legion in the Grand Army. We did have casualties, but we recruited our replacements from the best of the shinies that left Kamino, everyone wanted to join the 501st. We were known for being unorthodox, but we got results. That suited our commanding general. A lot of the codes and protocols Cody and I developed were adopted for the clone forces throughout the galaxy. I was a consultant on a huge number of military decisions that frankly outstripped my rank. But Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, Commander Tano, a padawan who joined us in Christophsis, and Commander Cody all valued my vast experience. That was what made me qualified, rank or no. Our special missions were some of the most challenging and exciting feats of the war. I loved my job.  
  
Then came Kamino. Kamino was the home of our cloners, we were all created and trained in facilities there. So it was our home world too. When the Separatists invaded, we were ready to defend it like our home. The Kaminoans had evacuated for the most part, moving to their underwater villages. But the clones there had no other homes to retreat to. Tipoca City, where I grew up, was where the Separatists attacked.  
  
After we repelled those Seppie bastards, I’d supervised the cleanup. The bodies of soldiers were everywhere. I was always unhappy to see them but I was used to it. There were protocols in place for what to do with the bodies of soldiers. Still, Kamino was different than most warzones. On Kamino, most of the so-called civies we were defending were also our brothers. The locations we were fighting in were full of clones, of all ages. The Separatists had damaged some embryo rooms. Thousands of fetus jars had been destroyed and the broken bodies lined the floor along with the shattered glass and fluid. It was grisly. Cadets and even first-years in the nurseries had been gunned down by droids or hit in explosions and collapses. Every single body had the same face, my face, or faces I’d once had, the faces of my brothers. The dead were everywhere. Most had gone down fighting. I could not get the images out of my head. Yet, I had to make the decisions about what to do, I had to give orders about how to treat the dead, everyone was looking to me.  
  
The worst was touring the kitchens. There, taken out by blaster fire, was the galley staff, from second-years to batchers my age. They had tried to fight, but the Kaminoans didn’t allow bad batchers weapons. They’d done their best. Leading the fight, and the first to die, had been my bad batch nursery mates. They were easy to identify. I had just seen them before the attack, when I stopped by to visit. They had proudly told me that they’d organized the galley staff into a kind of booster club after I’d made some news with the 501st. They all had patches sewn on their shirt sleeves emblazoned with blue jaig eyes. I was happy to see that under Shaak-Ti’s supervision, the Kaminoans were allowing more individuality even for the clones in Tipoca City. When I saw these same shirts, battered and burned, stained with blood in places, I just couldn’t give any more orders.  
  
I had needed some air so I walked out onto one of the landing platforms and took my helmet off. The skies were gray, like they always were on Kamino, but it wasn’t raining very hard, just a slight drizzle. What we called on Kamino a “sunny day”. I was sitting on a crate with my helmet off and I put my head in my hands. I heard someone come out the door behind me and I sat up, trying to casually dry my eyes. It was General Skywalker. I sat up straight, “Is everything alright, General?”  
  
“I just came to ask you that,” he said kindly, “That was some pretty intense stuff back there. Do you need anything?”  
  
I felt my face getting hot and my eyes stung, “I’m fine, sir. I just…those damned Seppies.” My voice cracked.  
  
“I understand.” We didn’t say anything else to each other, or even look at each other. We just stood there, looking out over the water for a long time. Then I got myself together and went back inside to finish the job.  
  
I heard later from some of my brothers that they and General Skywalker had cornered Asajj Ventress on an outside platform. She had led the Separatist attack. She used the Force to shove everyone backwards, but before she got away, the general told her he was going to let the clones execute her. That would have been justice. I wished I’d been there.  
  
\--  
  
I got out of the air taxi at street level. It was the kind of building where you had to check in at the front desk. Swanky, I thought. Clones did not spend a lot of time away from the war, so we did not visit many domiciles. But whenever I had been granted leave time, I still liked to walk around and see how other people lived. I had grown more and more curious about civies, but always seemed to be on the outside looking in.  
  
I had met a clone before on Saleucami who was actually living a normal life. He had gone AWOL early in the war and had hidden himself away making his living as a farmer. He had a wife and two step-kids. The experience had made me curious about what we clones could do someday, after the war. Our rapid aging meant we had fewer years. I didn’t know how long we were expected to live. But once we were too old to fight, I wondered if we might be given a retirement. If the military was disbanded at war’s end, which some were proposing, we might be set free to do other things.  
  
I walked from the cab to the door and told the droid that I’d been invited to this address. He told me to go around to the service entrance. Some of the Senate Guard were watching the lifts and asked me who I was there to see. I wasn’t even sure whose residence it was. “Captain Rex of the 501st to see General Skywalker,” I stood at attention with my helmet under my arm.  
  
The guardsman sneered into his com, “There is a…clone down here to see General Skywalker, could you tell him he’s requested.” I had always found senate guardsmen to be a pretty pompous bunch. But I didn’t say anything.  
  
“One moment,” came the voice of Senator Amidala’s protocol droid. I guessed it was her place. I had met the droid before. Commander Tano did a good impression of him. He came back on, “Yes, it seems that Master Anakin wants to see Captain Rex, please bring him up at once.”  
  
“Right this way, Captain,” the guardsman turned smarmy. I wondered how I could get General Skywalker to order me to punch the guardsman in the face. He was only doing his job, I told myself. Still, it would have made me feel a lot better. I felt slightly queasy on the lift, but I couldn’t say whether it was from the motion, or my last drink, or from the images in my mind. I breathed in deep.  
  
The lift stopped at the penthouse level and I stepped off while the guardsman stayed in and the door closed. C-3PO was waiting for me. “I say, hello once again Captain Rex, Master Anakin is this way,” he led me through some high ceilinged hallways with curtains in brightly colored cloth hung on to the archways. I had been to Naboo, I had seen palaces. This was the closest I’d seen to that on Coruscant. The droid talked my ear off the whole time, blathering about how the party had been a great success and he'd done an excellent job. I thought about all the ways I knew to dismantle a droid with my bare hands. There were a lot.  
  
We walked into a spacious room with large windows providing a view of the city. A bunch of fancy types were standing around with drinks, including Senator Amidala. General Skywalker was beside her and turned when we came in. “Rex, you made it,” he looked back at the others, among whom I recognized Senator Aang of the Military Oversight Committee. He was always on the Holonet news complaining about the war costing so much. Most clones didn’t really think about politics, but whenever I heard what Aang had to say, it was my impression that he was more interested in being popular than being a good leader.  
  
“Yes, sir,” I stood up straight and nodded, “Senators.”  
  
“Rex, Senator Amidala was just telling Senator Aang here about her interest in better conditions for clone troopers in the field. I said that they really needed to talk to you,” the general explained.  
  
“I’m not sure I could tell you much,” I was nervous. The general knew that I had a lot of ideas on the subject because we had talked about it on the transport from Kamino. It wasn’t something I discussed much, even with my brothers. The Republic had created us and I didn’t want to seem ungrateful, but I thought that we had earned some consideration for our comfort. I also wanted us to have greater freedom. I was surprised to learn that the general had the same hope for the Jedi. He said that there were things that were forbidden for Jedi that he thought should be basic rights. I wasn’t sure what he meant by it, but I knew the Jedi had a strict code. Commander Tano had told me once that it was not easy to abide by the code even for Jedi. It was the same for us clones. On Christophsis, we had a clone who turned traitor and sold secrets to the Separatists for money. Then there was my farmer friend. I understood Ahsoka’s point. We were all sentient beings after all, not programmed like droids. We had our own thoughts and feelings like anybody else. I had told the general that we should be free to make our own choices. Otherwise what were we, but slaves?  
  
“He’s just being modest. Tell them, Rex, like you told me,” he was serious.  
  
For the next hour, I explained clone life to the senators. At first, some of them were kind of condescending. It was apparent that few of the senators, the people who decided our fates, had ever really talked to a clone before. But the more I spoke, the more curious they became. I told them anything I could think of. We were engineered to be sturdy, but aged rapidly, so we needed specialized care. We worked hard and had a lot of skills. We liked feeling useful and appreciated. I had been intimidated, but they actually showed a lot of compassion by the end.  
  
As the guests started to clear out, I started saying goodbye to the senators and thanked them for listening. When I went to leave, Senator Amidala stopped me, “Rex, can you stay for a drink with us?”  
  
My first reaction was that I had to get back to the base, but then I remembered I was on leave. “I guess I could stay a little while,” I sat down as the protocol droid brought out a tray with some kind of sweet wine and cake. I took them to be polite but it was awkward trying to sit up straight and eat off of a little plate with a tiny fork.  
  
The general lounged on the couch like he lived there, “Thanks for coming, Rex.”  
  
“Thank you for giving me the chance,” I gave up and put the cake down on a low table.  
  
“Sometimes we lose sight of the human cost of this war. They need to remember that people are affected by their decisions. You Jedi and clones are risking your lives for us,” Senator Amidala explained, “I think it helps when they can see a real person and not just a number in armor.”  
  
General Skywalker smiled at her, “Padme is mostly against the war. But not because she doesn’t believe in the mission.”  
  
“I know how dangerous Count Dooku is. I just don’t believe we should ever be reckless with sentient lives if we can help it,” she explained.  
  
“And on that, we agree,” from what I could see, she and the general were a good team. I was somewhat jealous.  
  
She had a datapad and was taking rapid notes on what I had said to the senators. They asked me follow up questions. The conversation was very animated. I was actually inspired by their enthusiasm. It seemed to me as if the two of them spent a lot of time discussing how things should be, making plans for the galaxy. Finally, Senator Amidala put the data pad down, “We never asked you, Rex, do you know what you would you like to do? I mean, after the war.” No one had ever asked me that, actually.  
  
I scratched the back of my neck. I had thought about it, but I had never told anyone, “It might sound funny,” I was somewhat embarrassed to admit it, but I’d had a few drinks so I figured, what the hey, “What I’d actually like is to have a family.” They both looked directly at me with serious expressions. I had been worried that they’d laugh, but they didn’t show a trace of amusement so I went on. “I’ve seen how other sentients live. They can be with who they choose. I’ve always wanted to know what it would be like to find a girl, fall in love. Truth is, I always wanted a son,” I smiled nervously, “Something I get from my father, I guess. When I was growing up we would see old Jango sometimes around the facility with his boy. He would be there, teaching him to use the weapons or training in combat. It was so different from the way we clones were trained. The Kaminoans kept things really impersonal. With his son, Jango was strict, but he was protective. And he showed it when he was proud of his son. Say what you want about Jango as a bounty hunter, but I really admired him as a dad. I’ve always tried to imitate him in the way I take care of my brothers.” I saw them glance at each other with eyebrows raised. “Sorry,” I trailed off a bit. I guessed it had sounded strange. I knew that Jango was considered a criminal in the Republic, but I had never known him like that. Truth was, I had never really known him at all. He and Boba didn’t talk to us clones. But he was a part of me, a part of all of my brothers.  
  
“No, no worries,” General Skywalker said slowly and glanced at the senator again.  
  
“Can clones have children?” the senator asked me.  
  
“Not naturally. We’re engineered not to, but I hear there are lots of ways. We’re just not allowed now,” I told them. I stood and paced over to one of the windows, “The Kaminoans treated us as products from a factory. Even though we were grown in a lab, we clones are human beings. Our lives have worth beyond the battlefield. We were made for a purpose, but we shouldn’t be disposable, no person should. A lot of us have been killed in the war, a lot more will be. That is our duty and we are proud to do it. But once we’ve done our duty, I want my brothers and me to have a chance to live a life we choose,” I was getting more enthusiastic as I was speaking, “No sentient is just one thing. To some we may be product units, to some we are soldiers, but we can be more than this. Don’t we deserve the chance? Don’t we deserve to have dreams like anybody else? Don’t we deserve the same freedom we are fighting to protect for others? I have to believe we do and that we’ll have it. That’s the Republic I believe in and the one I’m fighting for, would give my life for,” I slammed a fist against the windowsill.  
  
I turned back. Senator Amidala had her hand covering her mouth, her eyes wet with tears.  
  
\--  
  
It was very late and I was tired. I was given a ride back to the barracks by some of the senator’s security. I thought their uniforms were kind of silly looking, all high waists and short jackets.  
  
General Skywalker had walked me down to the garage. I was still feeling somewhat awkward about displaying that much emotion. It wasn’t like me. The general’s forehead was wrinkled with concern. He’d patted me on the shoulder and said, “Rex, I understand. More than you know.”  
  
Back at the barracks, I fell into bed as soon as I put my armor into its case. I was rooming with Fives and Echo, who had come with me to do the paperwork for their promotions. They were back from 79's much earlier so I didn’t wake them. I was on leave, so I didn’t have to be up early for once. I was grateful. It had been a long night.  
  
When I fell asleep, the nightmares were back. I had been having them every night since Kamino. I dreamed I was in the embryo rooms again. The floor was littered with the glass, fluid, but in my dream clone bodies of all ages lined the floor. Everywhere I looked were clone faces with dead, open eyes. I could feel a presence in the room with me, some dark invisible phantom controlling my actions. Suddenly, I spotted General Skywalker across the room. I raised my blaster and fired, shooting him right between the eyes. I awoke suddenly and looked around the room in the dark.  
  
“You have them, too, huh?” I saw Fives roll over on his bunk.  
  
“What?”  
  
“The nightmares,” he shrugged.  
  
“What are you talking about, Trooper?” I rubbed my temple with my fingers.  
  
“I used to have them back when I was on the Rishi moon,” he rolled up his sleeve a little bit and showed me his Shaak-Ti amulet, “Master Shaak-Ti had helped us a lot at the academy. We were all really grateful to her. When I started to have dreams where I killed her, they scared me. Always the same dream, something takes control of me, then I shoot her, sometimes in the head, sometimes in the back. Hevy said that some of the clones had asked our Kaminoan doctors about the nightmares, they were pretty common after the war started. The doctors thought it had something to do with our combat conditioning. They just gave the men some mild sedatives to help them sleep.”  
  
“Do you still have the nightmares?” I looked at him in the dim light. It was almost dawn.  
  
“Not as often. Not every night. Usually when I’m under some stress. These days it is usually General Skywalker I see, or Commander Tano. But it isn’t real. I know that when I wake up.”  
  
“Huh,” I had heard some of the men talking about nightmares before. I hadn’t realized how frightening they were. I had woken up still shaking. It took some time to throw off that helpless feeling before I could fall asleep again.  
  
\--  
  
The next day I woke up late. Fives and Echo had gone out to get their new armor. It was the last day of our leave, so I decided that I should eat something decent before it was back to rations. The night before had actually been good, despite the nightmare. I believed that the senators had heard me and it had actually made me hopeful for the future. I headed out and caught a taxi.  
  
“Rex! Good to see you,” Lina turned when I came through her door. I hadn’t seen her since we escorted the Mandalorian Duchess. Then, it was only for a quick lunch with the general. But she had remembered me. “How goes the fight?” she poured me a cup of caf and pushed it across the counter.  
  
“Same as always.”  
  
“That bad, huh?” she leaned over the counter, “What’ll I get you?”  
  
“You tell me, everything looks good,” I leaned on the counter too.  
  
“Alright, soldier boy, I’ll make you something special,” she turned but glanced over her shoulder and smiled.  
  
“Listen, if you’re not busy later, maybe you’d like to have a drink or something?” I rubbed my head. I felt that same adrenaline rush I'd had at the barbershop.  
  
“About time you asked.”

  


**Author's Note:**

> Part 2- "I Wished I'd Been Sent to the Brig"  
> Part 3- "Part Attack Dog, Part King"


End file.
